Tortoise Reform

  "It's because we're in continuing contact,” she thought. “I couldn't read your thoughts if you weren't letting me. Just as I couldn't see anything in this darkness if you weren't letting me use your eyes."

  True. But she was still improving. And he liked her.

  "I like you too, Owl. I like all of you in the burrow. That's why I want to stay in touch. But so far I've mostly gotten us all in trouble."

  "We all got us all in trouble,” he thought. “We held a burrow meeting and decided. We want to remain in touch with you too."

  He had been working his way down; now he was at the bottom. It was an arched niche, with a metal grate for his feet to grasp, and ashes below it.

  "You're in the fireplace,” Rowan thought. “Shake yourself off there, because you don't want to track soot all through the house and leave evidence of what you're doing."

  Owl hadn't thought of that. In the forest or burrow such refuse hardly mattered; it just fell to the ground and was trampled down. But now he understood how black soot could make a trail that a human could follow, and that would be bad if it happened before he escaped the house. So he shook himself, beat his wings in place while holding on to the grate, and did a fast crude preening. He got much of the soot off, but it would take time to do the whole job.

  "Mainly your feet, and what will shed when you fly,” Rowan suggested. “It won't hurt if you leave a little."

  Then a dark shape loomed. Owl froze, but the thing had already spotted him during his distraction with the soot shedding. It was a cat!

  "Oh my goodness!” Rowan thought. “I forgot about the cat! That's Frag!"

  "A cat!” That was Cottontail's horror.

  Then it all poured in from her mind: Uncle and Aunt had a fat orange tabby cat named Dleifrag. Rowan didn't like him, as he was a fat lazy creature whose main entertainment was squashing innocent spiders and trying to catch birds. So she had ignored him. He was easy to ignore, as he slept most of the time he wasn't eating, and wasn't very social. But now he could not be ignored.

  In fact, seeing Owl aware of him, Frag pounced. Owl flapped his wings and shot up the chimney, just out of reach. The cat snarled and swept at the bricks, trying to catch Owl. He couldn't—but neither could Owl get by him to complete his mission. This was a real problem.

  "Darn it!” Rowan thought. “I'd never have let you go there if I'd remembered Frag. You'd better just scoot up the chimney and save your tail."

  Now Peba's thought came. “No. We put the dog to sleep. We can put the cat to sleep."

  "Say, that's right!” Rowan thought. “If we can make him sleep, then it'll be halfway safe. Maybe. But he's an ornery beast, and he's never short of sleep. So I don't know."

  "We will focus,” Gopher thought. It was his job as burrow master to speak for all of them, and to organize things. “all except Owl and Rowan, because they need to concentrate on their mission."

  Owl felt the others focusing on the cat. Frag felt it too; he turned and spat at nothing, trying to find an enemy he sensed but could not see or smell. The harder they concentrated, the more the ornery cat fought. He was definitely not going to sleep.

  Then Rowan had an idea. “We don't need Frag to be asleep, we just need him to be somewhere else. Maybe we can distract him, so Owl can get through."

  "I'll do it,” Cottontail thought. “Mentally is much better than physically."

  Owl felt the rabbit concentrate. The others supported him, adding to his thought. A picture of him formed before the cat. At first it was fuzzy in outline, then it firmed. But the cat did not pay attention to it.

  "It's in image, not a real rabbit,” Rowan thought. “Like a picture. It needs to smell and sound like a rabbit too."

  "Give me your mind,” Indigo thought. “I will make it smell like you.” In a moment the odor of warm rabbit wafted bout from the image. Indigo knew the smell of rabbits, because he hunted them on occasion.

  "And I will make it sound like you,” Gopher thought. The beat of feet on the ground came.

  "And I will make it move like you,” Peba thought. The figure lifted its ears, turned about, and looked at the cat.

  Suddenly Frag believed. He turned and pounced on the image, but it zipped out of the way. An armadillo could move quite quickly when it wanted to. There was the sound of feet striking the floor; they did not quite match the image's landing, but it took a while for the four minds to coordinate perfectly.

  Frag whirled and pounced again. He was quite agile for a fat cat. But the image rabbit was already scooting for another room in the house, trailing its smell.

  The cat ran after it, and this time caught it. And the image passed right through Frag's paws and moved on.

  "Now if that were me, I'd catch on that it's a ghost,” Rowan thought. “But I don't think Frag's that smart."

  It did set the cat back, though. He paused, not pursuing for a moment. Then the rabbit faced back and wiggled its ears teasingly. The armadillo's little ears could move like that, so it was realistic.

  Furious, the cat pounced again—and missed. The rabbit ran out of the room. The cat followed.

  "Now we can get by,” Roman thought. “But it's still dangerous. If Frag gives up on the ghost—"

  "I'll poop in his face,” Cottontail thought. “I'll bite his tail. This is fun!"

  "I guess if you can keep him mad, he won't pause to think,” Rowan thought. “But Owl, you'd better get done as fast as you can, just in case. And I'll prepare a stun thought, also just in case."

  Owl dropped down again, shook himself out, then followed the girl's guidance to the humans’ bedroom. He heard the cat moving in another room, and that made him nervous. But if the cat appeared, he would spread his wings and fly as rapidly as possible to the fireplace, and up the chimney. He wasn't sure a stun thought would stop this creature, but it might slow it down enough.

  "Okay, now we have to find Aunt's purse,” Rowan thought. “It should be near her side of the bed."

  Owl hopped along the floor toward the bed. He felt the mental nearness of Aunt as she slept, and heard her faint breathing. He didn't like being this close to her, but of course it couldn't be avoided.

  "There it is,” Rowan thought. “Up on that bed table."

  Owl looked up. He saw the shape she meant. But he was on the floor, and it was up there. He would have to fly up.

  "Can you do it quietly?"

  "I am an owl,” he reminded her. He spread his wings and flew silently up, landing on the table beside the purse.

  But the purse was closed. “You will have to work the zipper,” Rowan thought. “Like this.” She made a mental image of catching hold of a little tag and pulling it back along the fastening.

  Owl caught the tag in his beak and pulled. It resisted.

  "Change the angle."

  He did so—and suddenly the tag yielded. Caught off-balance, he scrambled across the table, still holding the tag. Then he fell off the edge of the table. He jerked on the tag, trying to recover, but instead pulled the purse over the edge with him. He spread his wings as he let go, getting clear of it. It fell to the floor with a solid thunk, and some of its contents spilled out.

  "Oopsy!” Rowan thought.

  The sleeping figure woke. Aunt sat up. “What was that?” her sharp thought came.

  "Grab the key and run!” Rowan thought. “I mean fly!” Her thought showed exactly where and what the key was.

  Owl pounced on the key, getting it in his beak.

  Aunt did something. Suddenly there was blinding light. Owl, dazed, could not move.

  Aunt saw him. “Eeeee!!” she screamed.

  "Get out of here!” Rowan thought urgently. “This way!” She made a mental map of the room, showing the way out.

  Still blinded, Owl followed her direction. In a moment he was in the darker part of the house and could see again.

  And almost banged into Frag, who was charging toward the commotion in the bedroom. Owl leaped, spreading his wings, and the cat passed right under h
im.

  "Fly to the chimney!” Rowan thought. “While they're distracted. Get out of the house!"

  "But you need the key,” Indigo's thought reminded them.

  "It's too dangerous!” Rowan thought. “They're all up and active. Owl has to get out immediately."

  "After I do the job,” Owl thought. He flew to Rowan's bedroom with the key.

  "You're so brave!” she thought again. “But I'll never forgive myself if—"

  But now the door blocked him. He could not use the key himself. “What can I do?"

  "Put it down by the crack under the door. Push it under as far as you can, so I can fetch it from this side. Then I'll be able to use it."

  Owl dropped the key on the floor and nudged it into the crevice. Then it disappeared. “I got it!” Rowan thought. “Thank you so much, Owl! Now get to that chimney!"

  Owl turned—and there was Frag barring his way. The cat had gotten straightened out enough to get back on the trail. This time Frag had no intention of being led astray by a ghost rabbit. His eyes were fixed on Owl and his muscles were tensing.

  "The bomb!” Rowan thought. “Send it right to the cat! Here it comes!"

  Owl braced as her violent thought surged into his mind. It was sheer rage, focused on the cat. He channeled it to the largest crevice in the animal's closed mind. POW!

  Frag rocked back, half stunned. He was dazed but not out, and when owl started to move, the feline eyes still tracked him. He knew that cats pounced largely on instinct, so it wasn't safe to try to pass close by. But neither was it safe to remain here. Soon the cat's head would clear, and then he would pounce anyway.

  "Maybe make multiple owls,” Rowan thought. “Each run by a different burrow mate. Can you do that?"

  "We can do it,” Tortoise thought. “If Owl gives us his mind."

  "Take it,” Owl thought. “Otherwise I'm dead."

  Tortoise entered his mind, made himself into an image, and moved away. A ghost Owl moved with him. Then Peba entered, and made another image. Then Indigo, and Cottontail. Four ghost Owls were in the room.

  Frag looked dazedly from one to the other. Then he pounced on the nearest—and passed right through it.

  Another Owl moved before the cat's face. “Hoooot!” he thought. It hardly sounded like a real burrowing owl, but it fooled the cat, who pounced on it—and found nothing.

  Then all four Owls were surrounding the cat, teasing him, picking at his tail, hooting, and fluffing feathers in his face. Frag swiped at them, getting nowhere.

  Meanwhile the real Owl moved quietly around and out the door. Then he flew to the fireplace. In a moment he was scrambling up the chimney, heedless of the soot. At last he reached the top. He sat on the roof of the house and shook out his feathers. He was safe—and he had accomplished his mission.

  "I am out,” he thought to the others. “You can let the ghosts go."

  "Gone,” Tortoise agreed. “That was fun."

  "And I've got the key,” Rowan agreed. “But I can't use it yet, because Uncle and Aunt are still up."

  "Aunt is coming to your room,” Cottontail thought urgently. “To see if you are all right."

  "Oh, no! If she wants to come in, she'll have to use the key, and then she'll realize it's gone. I'll try to bluff her. Can you make her believe?"

  "We will focus on her,” Tortoise thought.

  Owl joined in, seeking access to the woman's mind. Each new closed mind was a challenge, but they all had crevices so that it was possible to get inside a little. Cottontail had found the best crevice, so the others were using that.

  Aunt came and knocked on Rowan's door. Her thought came through clearly, because it was vocalized and Rowan's mind translated it. “Dear, are you all right? Something very strange is happening."

  "Is something wrong?” Rowan thought to Aunt, vocalizing similarly. “I was asleep. I'm all right."

  Owl and the others made a concerted push of acceptance. There was no need to open the door; Rowan was all right.

  The woman hesitated a moment, then was swayed by the will to believe. “Very well, dear; go back to sleep."

  "Sure will, Aunt,” Rowan replied.

  Aunt returned to her room, where Uncle awaited her. “I saw an owl in the house! And something was arousing Dleifrag; he was rushing all over."

  "An owl!” Uncle thought. “What would it be doing in the house?"

  "I have no idea. I see no sign of it now."

  "Must have been a bad dream. Get back to bed; we need our sleep. Got a big day tomorrow."

  "Yes. Of course we'll have to tell Rowan where she's going. We just can't handle a child who willfully disobeys rules."

  "They'll take good care of her at the summer boarding school. She might even like it."

  "She's simply too wild for us. That must be why her family sent her away."

  Then they turned off the lights and settled down. Soon, encouraged by the burrow mates’ massed sleep signals, they slept.

  "Good,” Rowan thought. “Try to keep them that way. I'm writing them a note."

  "What is a note?” Owl asked from the roof.

  "Just a little bit of thought put on a paper,” Rowan explained, sending the new concept out. “I'm telling them not to worry, because I'm fine. I'm just going somewhere else."

  She finished the note and left it on the little table by the bed. She had already packed her things; Cottontail had to share a bag with some of her clothing. Fortunately it was soft.

  Then Rowan used the key to unlock the bedroom door. As she opened the door and stepped through, cautiously in the darkness, she had another thought: “Maybe I should lock it again, so they don't know how I got out. And I'll return the key to Aunt's purse. It'll be a real locked-room mystery."

  The burrow mates focused, keeping Aunt and uncle asleep as Rowan quietly entered their bedroom and returned the key to Aunt's purse. Then the girl moved to the front door of the house and tried to open it. It didn't budge.

  "Oopsy! It's locked, of course! I need the key—but then I won't be able to return it to Aunt's purse, and the mystery will be ruined.” She stood a moment in indecision.

  "Can you go up the chimney?” Owl thought.

  Rowan made a mental laugh. “I'm way too big and clumsy for that! No, I'll go out a window. Only the bedroom one is boarded up.” She went to a window, opened it, set her two bags outside, climbed out, and closed it carefully after her.

  Indigo and Peba joined her, and Gopher made his way toward her more slowly. Owl flew down.

  "Well, I guess we're on our way,” Rowan thought. “We'll get you folk to the portal, and I'll set Cottontail in the tunnel and hope he can make it the rest of the way. Then—"

  Owl understood the pause. Rowan had not thought beyond the point of rescuing Cottontail. What was she to do, once the burrow mates were safely on their way?

  Chapter 8

  Transformation

  Tortoise had the answer: “You will come with us."

  "To your realm? Oh, I'd love that! But I'd never fit through that tunnel."

  "We will widen it."

  They all felt the dawning hope in her mind. “You can do that? You can let me in?"

  "Peba and I are good tunnelers,” Tortoise thought. “It may take time, but we can do it. You have no house to stay in now, so you must find residence in our realm. We can remain together."

  "Oh, that's so wonderful! I'm crying again. I always wanted to see your world, I mean your realm, but never thought I would."

  They moved on toward the sink hole. Rowan picked up Gopher and made a place for him in her other bag, so that they could move faster. Then she thought of another thing. “Maybe we shouldn't go directly there, because we'll leave footprints and things, and they'll trace us and find the portal. We'd better take a roundabout route."

  That made sense, as they assimilated the concept in her mind. So though they were all tired from the long night's adventures, they took the long route. It was near dawn by the time they entered the sin
khole from the far side. They entered the cave and came to the tunnel to their own realm.

  Now Gopher and Peba got to work. They started at the top of the ramp and dug at either side of the tunnel, rapidly sending the dirt down into the cave. Peba was the faster digger, but Gopher was steadier. Meanwhile Owl and Indigo helped move the dirt to the sides of the ramp, and Rowan used her hands to push masses of it aside. “Wish I had a shovel,” she thought.

  "You are tired,” Gopher thought. “You must rest, for the digging will take time."

  "We're all tired,” Rowan thought. “We all need rest, after being active all night. But if we delay, and they find us before we get through—"

  "Perhaps we should block the cave, so others do not come here,” Indigo suggested.

  "But then we couldn't stay in contact!” Rowan protested.

  "You are on this side.” And he had slithered to an insight others had missed: Rowan was with them, and they would need no more to rendezvous. It was more important to block the cave so that stray humans would not find the portal, and reopen it themselves when they had reason.

  "You're right,” she thought, pleased. “I wasn't thinking straight."

  "Because you are tired,” Gopher reminded her. “Rest, and you may help dig when we tire."

  "Got it.” Rowan made herself a bed in soft dirt and lay down. Cottontail kept her company. After a moment, Owl and Indigo joined them.

  Gopher and Peba continued to dig, sending huge masses of dirt down into the cave. When it started clogging the tunnel behind them they had to stop. At that point Rowan and the others woke, and worked to move it toward the cave entrance while the two diggers rested.

  They continued alternating shifts for some time. They were getting hungry, but the work had to continue. They checked the size of the enlarged tunnel, and found that Rowan could fit if she wriggled; she was not as big as she seemed, when she moved snakelike along it.

  But as they worked, Indigo came up with a problem: “She is alien to our realm, and far too intelligent for her kind. Her nature must be concealed."

  As usual, the snake had slithered into an aspect the others had missed. It was true: Rowan Girl was not at all like the dull humans of the home realm, and would not fit in among them. In fact she would need to be protected from them, for they could be cruel to any of their kind that were different in any way. How could they handle this?